The Government of Maharashtra has initiated the Jalyukta Shivar Abhiyan (JSA) program with an aim to make Maharashtra drought free by the year 2019.

“To bring more transparency and garner people’s participation, we will now involve members of the ‘Tanishka Foundation ’, an initiative by the Delivering Change Foundation (DCF),” said Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

While attending a book releasing function in the city ‘Vidarbhatil Shetkaryanchya Atmhatya; (Farmers’ Suicides in Vidarbha), Mr. Fadnavis further said,”In order to tackle the drought situation and to create a more sustainable and better infrastructure for irrigation in the first phase, we have initiated the JSA program in 5000 villages across Maharashtra. Under this mission, various activities of watershed development such as construction of CNBs, construction of Farm Ponds, desisting, deepening and widening of village water bodies will be carried out. This mission is a flagship program of our Government. We want transparency and people’s participation to make this mission a success and for this we will seek help from members of the Tanishka Fourm.”

​He further added, “All Tanishka Foundation members will inspect work sites and click photographs which will be uploaded on the Government website. This experiment will help in bringing more transparency in administration and execution of this initiative. This program will not face any issues related to the availability or adequacy of funds.”